The Ion Dynamics in Radioactive Environments and Materials (IDREAM) Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) conducts fundamental science to support innovations in retrieving and processing high-level radioactive waste.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has pioneered the use of observational research for evaluating energy efficient technologies in the built environment.

PNNL's Ocean Dynamics Modeling group studies coastal processes such as marine-hydrokinetic energy, coastal circulations, storm surge and extreme waves, tsunamis, sediment transport and nutrient-macroalgal dynamics.